


Green Eye

by desperationandgin



Series: Market Price (The Companion Pieces) [4]
Category: Outlander (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Relationship Talk, pizza convos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 13:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18053291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desperationandgin/pseuds/desperationandgin
Summary: Jamie meets one of Claire's colleagues at work and spends some time reflecting on it.





	Green Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt on tumblr from jack-andthestalk: _Can I request a ficlet as part of market fic. One very soon after J/C's 5th date. Jamie picks her up from the hospital and she is chatting to a male colleague, Jealous Jamie ensues._
> 
> I hope this is close enough to what you were hoping for!

Jamie has never considered himself anything close to a jealous man. He doesn’t often take stock of himself on an emotional level but he doesn’t think he’s insecure. He’s confident, and right now, he’s sure in how he feels about Claire Beauchamp. The night they were supposed to go to dinner was spent wrapped in one another, learning each other intimately. His fingers still remember the long line of her neck, his mouth remembers the curve of her breast just before he descends on a nipple, and his tongue remembers the taste of her in complete oblivion. The next morning they’d had one another all over again, spent the majority of the day finding all the ways to make the other fall apart with different levels of urgency. It couldn’t last, though. She had to return to work the next morning, he really can’t be away from the farm much longer, and they’d parted that night after Indian take out and more unplanned moments on her couch.

He promised to take her out for a quick supper after her shift which means he’s at the hospital at six, sitting on a bench outside when she strolls out. She’s laughing at something the man beside her said, her hand reaching out in familiarity to touch his arm. Immediately, Jamie begins sizing him up, taking stock of her friend (tall, fair, very familiar with her apparently) but when he realizes what he’s doing tells himself to stop.

“Jamie!” Claire spots him and smiles, a soft, shy thing as she tries to decide whether or not the weekend put them in a position to greet each other with a kiss.

After that smile gifted to him, he decides for them both and stands, tugging her hand until he can kiss her. Maybe it’s a little more than needed based on how her cheeks flush a bit when they break apart.

“Jamie, this,” she says, clearing her throat and turning back to her companion. “Is John Grey. John, this is Jamie Fraser.”

The two men shake hands as Claire explains that John’s a hospital social worker and patient advocate. “We became friends after I needed his help regarding a patient.”

“Not quickly, might I add,” John interjects. “She’s about as stubborn as they come. It’s safe to say it took a bit of reflection to become _friends_.”

Claire rolls her eyes. “Alright, I may have told you once or twice you were a bastard…”

Jamie watches the banter, half-amused and pleased that she introduced him to a colleague, and half-jealous. Not of John himself, but the inside jokes, the stories. Maybe it isn’t jealousy, but impatience. He’s ready to have that _now_ with Claire. As the three of them talk back and forth, Jamie comes to a very obvious conclusion: He wants everything he can get with the woman beside him. Stories to tell years from now, laughter with friends at all of their shared experiences, road trips, never parting for the night, waking up to her every morning for all the rest of them he has left.

It’s a hell of a thing to realize during casual conversation. Luckily, the moment is broken by Claire’s stomach and Jamie ushers her to his car after goodbyes are exchanged, letting her navigate to a pizza place. “Was your day alright, Sassenach?”

Her reflection on the shift, the tension between her and her boss, the nurses glad to have her back, the consults and everything else, takes the entire ride to the restaurant and he snags her hand on the way inside once they arrive. The grin she tries to hide by looking down for a moment isn’t missed by him, and he squeezes her hand before opening the door for her. Once they’re settled, pizza order in, Jamie settles back to look at her.

“How long have ye known your friend John?”

Claire looks at Jamie over her glass of water and shrugs a bit. “A couple of years now. Why?”

Jamie shakes his head, shrugging it off. “No real reason. Ye both seem verra...familiar wi’ one another is all.”

Now, she raises her eyebrows as a smirk plays on her lips. “Are you jealous?”

He makes a very distinct noise in the back of his throat before denying it completely. “I’m no’ jealous.”

“John is a good friend, Jamie. I promise that’s all it is.”

Leaning forward, Jamie’s arms rest on the table top. “Ye dinna have to explain anything to me. It’s no’ jealousy at all, it’s...I couldn’t help thinking about having moments to look back on wi’ ye. Stories to tell, inside jokes.”

At his explanation, her face softens and she reaches out to rest a hand on his wrist “We do have a pretty great story to tell about how we met. The burnt lamb should be an instant classic,” Claire says with a smirk.

“I’m no’ trying to make ye feel bad, Sassenach,” Jamie points out, ever the gentleman, even if he’ll never in his life forget that night.

She only scoffs. “I don’t feel bad about it. You went out and brought back a hundred dollars worth of food, then washed my dishes. _And_ you wanted to see me again. Nothing to feel bad about there.” As the food comes they sit back in their seats, but as soon as the waiter goes, Claire looks at Jamie intently. “We’ll have more of those stories. I’m not going anywhere if you aren’t.”

“This is where I want to be, Claire. Right here wi’ ye. And in case it wasna clear, I enjoy meeting your friends. That’s two now, aye? Geillis and now John.”

“You still need to meet Joe. We went to med school together and he and his wife more than took care of me so that I never felt quite as alone as I was. Especially after Frank,” Claire explains. “It’s important to me that you meet both him and his wife.”

“Dinner out, or at the farm, maybe, so ye can show me off proper,” Jamie offers with a grin.

They settle in, each grabbing a slice of pizza before Claire looks at Jamie again thoughtfully. “You _were_ jealous. Of the way I can talk to John familiarly.”

There’s no point in denying it, and so he nods. “Meeting him only made me realize it’s what I want. You, and a life of memories.”

“The memories we made over the weekend aren’t really things I would share with my friends,” Claire says with a smirk before revising. “Well. Maybe Geillis, but only because she’ll ask.”

Jamie laughs around a bite of pizza. “As long as ye only say good things.” After a moment of consideration, he wipes his hands slowly on a napkin. “We could go back to your place now. Make more of _those_ memories if ye are no’ too tired from the day.”

The two of them lock eyes over the table and Claire looks at the barely tucked into meal. “To-go boxes?”

Jamie’s already reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. “Oh, aye. I plan to leave ye ravenous, ye’ll want the food later.”

He’s not a jealous man. Not when one sentence has Claire twisting in her seat to make eye contact with their waiter. He gets to have her in a way no one else does, a way someone foolishly gave up because he was jealous of her dedication to work. Jamie refuses to be _that_ , and as he helps her box up their food, he says a silent thanks to the man who let Claire go.

One person’s misplaced jealousy has been nothing but Jamie’s gain.


End file.
